CSS to PDF, using THEAD for repeating header on new page

Question

I have CSS and HTML that I will be converting into PDF. I want to specify a header on each page that, in the PDF, will repeat on each new page.

I know that I can use THEAD to specify the header, however, is there a free html-to-pdf converter that will respect the THEAD tag?

If not, are there any alternatives?

Thanks...

See also this question http://stackoverflow.com/questions/274149/ — Eero, Apr 13 '10 at 22:59

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 24 '12 at 15:32

Have look at WeasyPrint, it’s open-source and converts HTML/CSS to PDF. (I’m the developer.)

WeasyPrint does repeat <thead> and <tfoot> on each page, but that’s only for tables. For proper page headers, you can use the Paged Media module of CSS3 (supported in WeasyPrint and some other print-oriented engines)

@page { @top-center { content: "My awesome title"; } }

All the details are in the css3-page spec. At some point I want to write more author-friendly documentation for it, but it’s unfortunately not there yet.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 13 '10 at 23:00

4

The open source Flying Saucer xhtmlrenderer html-to-pdf converter respects the THEAD tag since release R8 (April 2009). To repeat the THEAD on every page of PDF output, add the following to your CSS:

        table {
            -fs-table-paginate: paginate;
        }

answered Apr 13 '10 at 23:00

Eero

4,564
4
35
40

when I add the cs -fs-table-paginate: paginate;why my table css :border-collapse:collapse invalid; – FishGel May 09 '12 at 06:37

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '09 at 07:33

2

If this is for one time only, perhaps you can simply open the page in a browser and export to PDF from the Print dialog.

This way, the browser deals with correctly displaying the THEAD elements and you get your PDF output.

answered Jul 28 '09 at 07:33

Daan

6,932
4
27
36

Interesting idea, I will look into this. Thanks. – littleK Jul 28 '09 at 12:21

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 28 '09 at 11:50

2

I really like Prince XML. It respects thead placement, and supports a lot of CSS. It is free for personal use at least.

answered Jul 28 '09 at 11:50

Ms2ger

15,180
6
35
35

I actually looked into Prince XML a lot, and it is very nice. However, ultimately I would need to purchase a server license ($4000), which is quite a bit. I'm looking for more of an open source alternative. Thanks! – littleK Jul 28 '09 at 12:22

score 2 · Answer 5 · answered Mar 24 '10 at 09:21

For thead to repeat on every page the possible solution is to set it's style to:

@media print {
  thead {
    display: table-header-group;
  }
}

This solves the problem in most browsers, but there is still a problem with dividing table rows on page break, they break in the middle.

Although I do not know if such style is respected in html2pdf converters, there is a possibility to report this requirement to developers of open source converters.

CSS to PDF, using THEAD for repeating header on new page

5 Answers5